LA Unified School District to Eliminate�All Certified�Librarians - 3/15/2010 - School Library Journal

LA Unified School District to Eliminate�All Certified�Librarians - 3/15/2010 - School Library Journal

LA Unified School District to Eliminate All Certified Librarians

By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 3/15/2010

All certified school librarians in the Los Angeles Unified School District will lose their positions next school year if efforts to close the district’s $640 million budget shortfall fail.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines said pink slips will be sent March 15 to 5,200 district employees.

In a statement released March 2, school Superintendent Ramon Cortines said pink slips will be sent March 15 to 5,200 district employees. About half of the layoff notices will go to managers who hold teaching credentials, and most of the rest will go to elementary school teachers, certified middle and high school librarians, nurses, and counselors.

“It pains me to see such a large number of our employees receive notices, but with another deadline upon us and without shared solutions finalized, we do not have any other choice. This does not mean we won’t continue to seek alternatives,” Cortines says in his letter.

LAUSD is the third largest school district in the country and employs more than 150 certified librarians.

With no state mandate requiring a certified librarian in any grade, credentialed teacher-librarians in Los Angeles staff the district’s middle and high schools, while library aides serve elementary schools.